Games

Monday, 18 January 2016

Use Contacts in Gmail to Quickly Email Your Students #gafetip

Sometimes, you want to quickly email a whole class. Maybe there's an update about their lesson or deadline that'd be helpful for them to see before they arrive. Some schools create email groups via the admin dashboard which automatically update based on data in the MIS/SIS.

If that option isn't available to you, this is the next best thing! Hidden in Gmail is a contacts manager. To access it, click the 'Mail' link at the top of the page and choose 'Contacts'. You may already have lots of contacts in there. Depending on your settings, these are sometimes added automatically.

To make your life easier, you're going to create a personal contact group for each of your classes. When you compose a new email you'll be able to choose a group and it'll enter their email addresses for you.

So, let's get started. Click the 'New group...' option at the bottom of the menu on the left. Give the group a name (the class title is ideal). In this example, I've created a group called 'Media'. After you've created it, select it in the menu on the left.

Now, simply click the 'Add to [Group]' button and type in the email addresses separated by comments. Once you're done, the group will soon start appearing in Gmail when you compose a new message. Type in the name and you'll see it pop up!

About Dean Stokes

Dean is a Google for Education Certified Trainer and Innovator. He helps schools and businesses around the world 'go Google' by providing high quality, impactful training. You can follow Dean on Twitter or Google+.